bee creative

peanut sauce

President James Garfield said:  "Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter."

My mother has said (when I was a teenager) that I had a little bread with my peanut butter.

I don't even bother with the bread anymore. 

Which would lead to the expectation that I would like peanut sauce. 

Well, not really.

Until I decided to make peanut sauce and leave the cilantro out of the recipe.

(Used Deborah Madison's recipe from The Savory Way)

I've been eating it on whole wheat pasta.

Oh it's good. 

But not very photogenic. 

 

 

a poem for March

I am continuing to choose a poem each month to spend a little extra time with.   The poem I chose for March has been a favorite for a long time but I am looking at it in a slightly different way at the moment.  I've been thinking about the ways a day can be divided.  How who we are can change from place to place.  I don't think this is always a bad thing, but something that should be recognized. 

Paula Gunn Allen's poem Kopis'Taya (A Gathering of Spirits), (at the bottom of this page)
is very much about a divided world, a divided existence.  And about reaching for more connection. 

Honesty (Lunaria) coming up through the cracks on my deck.

5:06 PM 46 degrees F, Overcast, Winds S 15 MPH, gusts up to 40, visibility 10 miles.

This morning I walked in the rain and the wind.   One of the reasons I like to walk is how much more in touch with the world around me I feel.  That I am a part of something larger.  Tonight the snow level is dropping to 700 feet...not likely but maybe tomorrow I'll walk through the snow!  As for tonight...

"A twilight rain, soft feather's fall, a small body dropping into it's nest, rustling, murmuring, settling in for the night." 

Paula Gunn Allen

50% chance of rain means 50% chance of sun...

And we sure did get sunshine!  I went out to the garden at 10 AM and completely lost track of time...

Garden projects:  I am trying artichokes one more time.  Many years ago my father built me a cold frame with a reclaimed sun window.  The wood finally rotted out to the point it wasn't usable this winter so I propped the window up on some cinder blocks.  I'm hoping this will give the artichokes a bit of shelter.  I also buried a bucket full of chicken compost underneath. 

The window box that has lost it's bottom will be filled with potting soil and then planted with carrots.  I have very rocky soil which makes it hard to grow root crops.

Neighbors:  Two of the chickens are laying eggs consistently again.  That's good 'cause I'm going to have a new neighbor and I'll want to share eggs.  Hopefully they like chickens...

Trees:  A bit of fabric drifted into the garden.  I needed to stake and tie two of my new apple trees.  I planted four new trees this spring.  I think I've run out of space for fruit trees, even if they are mostly mini-dwarf, dwarf or espaliered.  This makes 15 fruit trees and 3 hazelnuts.  On a city lot. 

Community:  And that brings me back to a TED talk I listened to this morning...

 

Love what he has to say: 

"I use the garden, the soil, like it's a piece of cloth...."  Ron Finley

Cloth:  I'm building up the front side of my "When I Grow Up" project by adding a layer of woven fabric around the wheel.  I can already feel how much more sturdy the fabric is. 

It's growing up too.

 

a collection

 

1.  Winter Market:  Cheese, bread, potatoes, cabbage (red and green), a turnip, apples, broccoli, swiss chard, Brussels sprouts.

2. Today's lunch.  Salad made with some of the swiss chard, apple, turnip, and cabbage from the market plus sunflower seeds, oil and vinegar.  Bread and cheese.

3.  Sorrrel in the garden.  There is sprouting broccoli and kale at the sprouting stage to pick as well.

4.  March's library books. My favorite quote at the moment: 

"Large refrigerators are always full, in my observation.  Nature abhors a vacuum and food gets left in them when there should be a more regular turnover.  With a small refrigerator, there is far less scope for this to happen."   Christopher Lloyd from Gardener Cook

5.  Yarn I've been collecting to make a blanket.  I'm using up all the yarn that is one skein or less in my stash.  My plan is to make 3 panels using the directions for a wrap that I found at Purl Bee.  I love using seed stitch for this.  At some point I will have to buy yarn to finish but that's okay...  I do figure this is going to take me a couple years to finish.   I will probably add some of my own hand spun yarn to this as well and try to use up some of the roving stash too. 

6.  The mud puddle at the end of my walkway.  Heavy rain showers for most to this afternoon.  So many things are about to bloom so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there won't be a heavy freeze...

 

containers

 

The tomatoes have been up for a couple days...

I water them with one part of an oil/vinegar set. 

I was only able to buy the one cruet as the other part was missing.

The tip of the spout broke, but it works better that way. 

It makes a tiny little stream which works very well for tiny little seedlings. 

This weekend I listened to the story by Kevin Kling called The Story of The Cracked Pot (tried to embed so that anyone interested could listen here but no luck).

Usefulness is a matter of perspective. 

 

 

 

 

 

there is still more story

She drives me crazy sometimes.  This little one who turns six this month.

She is a destroyer.

But that means opportunities to explore, to create. 

She reminds me to be patient.

She makes me laugh.

She dances.

 

As of this month I have lived in my current house longer than I've lived anywhere in my life.

As of tomorrow, Briar has lived with me for 12 years.

Briar reminds me that there is goodness in the world, there is hope.

Today bee creative turns six.

I still feel like I have more stories to tell. 

in motion

Yesterday I traveled about 90 miles.  First by walking

and then by bus and then finally by car.

I went to the Winter Market in Anacortes.  A few greens, beets, turnips, potatoes, onions, cheese and meat, eggs, crafts.

And then I sat at the harbor while my parents took my grandmother shopping.  

I went out past that breakwater many times during the last part of my childhood.

Made some of the most important decisions of my life sitting on top of that promontory to the left.

I watched a group of men racing model boats.  The structures in the background are refineries. 

Every morning, during the school year, the bus I took for 6 years drove around the outside edges of those refineries.  Every afternoon, we went back round them again. 

The past is a kind of shadow. 

And I knit for awhile...

first picnic

One of the neighbor's cats.  His name is Chester.

49 F

Menu:  wheat berries, kumquats, smoked mozzarella, walnuts, dried tomatoes, oil and vinegar.

how a day might unfold

First there was the baking...

These tasted good!  It's been a long while since I've made muffins.  Made these with pastry flour (wheat) and sweetened with honey.  Honey is definitely an appropriate sweetener for these.

And then there was The Life-Changing Bread.  Everything seemed good as I made this, but the reality, well, I'm working on it.  The crust is fantastic but the interior just doesn't work for me.  Too much flax.  So far I've decided it's best cut into small pieces and toasted.  I have a bunch of crumbs that I'm going to toast and call granola.  I think that will get me through this batch.  For future baking, I'll stick with the quinoa crackers that I really like. 

And then there was some sewing...

It's made of flannel.  Not the really soft fuzzy kind, but a work weight flannel.  I love it, but I'm slightly hesitant about wearing it to work as it is very loose fitting. 

And then the garden...

I don't think it could have been more beautiful of an afternoon.  I planted peas, did some pruning, planted the new fruit trees that I picked out this year and puttered. 

I'm thinking I'll have some sprouting broccoli to eat soon too...

on the table

click on photo to be able to read the text...it's a little smaller than I'd hoped for.